Rumours and Stuff

[Stevie]

Were you told why he wanted to leave?

No mate I wasn’t. I mentioned I was bummed and they said “trust me it wasn’t up to us. It wasn’t over 50 or 100k, he wanted to go there”.

 

[Stevie]

They other thing that we chatted about briefly was that spirits are very high as are expectations for this season. They also said Penisi is a genuine superstar in waiting. Expectations are he will explode this season.

 

[Avenger]

No mate I wasn’t. I mentioned I was bummed and they said “trust me it wasn’t up to us. It wasn’t over 50 or 100k, he wanted to go there”.

All the more reason why he can f**k off tomorrow.

Thanks for the info.

 

[lucablight]

Our ten most experienced players, next year:

208 Rein
177 Paulo
172 Moses
155 Campbell-Gillard
139 Gutherson
136 Blake
131 Cartwright
124 Nrown
121 Lane
120 Matterson

The guys who have signed elsewhere for 2023:

88 Papali'i
77 Niukore
73 Mahoney

Rein and Cartwright are fringe first graders. Not players you build a team around. Blake (until the latter half of this season) and Lane were down on form. Paulo hasn’t re-signed with us yet. Matterson hasn’t set the world on fire and was even temporarily taken out of the rotation. You could make a strong case for Moses, Gutherson and RCG being consistent performers we’re building a side around. That’s not very many compared to the successful clubs and I think it’s problematic. What exactly is our identity? How can you build a top side when you don’t have a core group of players to build the side around?

 

[Eelementary]

As long as there is a plan in place, that’s good to hear.

Well, I mean - there has to be a plan! Otherwise, I've lost all hope!

 

[Eelementary]

I'm glad you're confident. I would like to be. But I'm still to be convinced that the club and the coach really know what they are doing. All I can say at this stage is I hope so. Marata is a great player. Underrated in my opinion. Will be sorely missed, I think.

I really like Marata - he's a great player.

But I think the style of play he brings to the table is a little easier to replace than other forwards.

And admittedly, I am pinning my hopes on the club having a plan, because the alternative is for me to wallow in anger, or despair - but I don't know that their plan actually is.

I just hope that it all becomes apparent soon, and we have some clarity.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Rein and Cartwright are fringe first graders. Not players you build a team around. Blake (until the latter half of this season) and Lane were down on form. Paulo hasn’t re-signed with us yet. Matterson hasn’t set the world on fire and was even temporarily taken out of the rotation. You could make a strong case for Moses, Gutherson and RCG being consistent performers we’re building a side around. That’s not very many compared to the successful clubs and I think it’s problematic. What exactly is our identity? How can you build a top side when you don’t have a core group of players to build the side around?

Well the leadership group consists of players from that bunch, and the other experienced ones bring some leadership of their own. It doesn't matter if they're fringe players or not, or even what their form is like. But our core would be:

Paulo
Moses
Campbell-Gillard
Gutherson
Blake
Nrown
Lane
Matterson

All experienced top 17 players and all except Paulo and Matterson are contracted for 2023. But the key point is that Mahoney, Papali'i and Niukore clearly aren't in our leadership group. Whether they could've ended up there is beside the point.

 

[hineyrulz]

Well, I mean - there has to be a plan! Otherwise, I've lost all hope!

Stick to the process mate, look at how well that worked out for Philly.

 

[lucablight]

Well the leadership group consists of players from that bunch, and the other experienced ones bring some leadership of their own. It doesn't matter if they're fringe players or not, or even what their form is like. But our core would be:

Paulo
Moses
Campbell-Gillard
Gutherson
Blake
Nrown
Lane
Matterson

All experienced top 17 players and all except Paulo and Matterson are contracted for 2023. But the key point is that Mahoney, Papali'i and Niukore clearly aren't in our leadership group. Whether they could've ended up there is beside the point.

I disagree with you about it not mattering whether players are fringe or not. Your core players have to be your most influential performers and form the identity of the club. With Papali’i’s rise Lane and Matterson were essentially role players this season. I remember when we had the likes of Hayne, Inu, Mateo, Cayless, Hindmarsh, Burt. When those players were on the field together I felt like you could look at that group and say they were Parramatta. You could tell they were passionate about the club and were the sort of players you could build a team around. We actually had an identity and we were challenging for grand finals. I don’t really get that same sense now outside of a few players like Gutherson, NBrown and Moses. I really hope we can bring that back with Paulo re-signing and the likes of Penisini and DBrown coming good.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Every one of those players listed played 20+ games this year. The exceptions (Blake and Matterson) only missed out because of injury, not because they were dropped. In fact Papali'i played a higher proportion of his games off the bench than Matterson did.

 

[lucablight]

Every one of those players listed played 20+ games this year. The exceptions (Blake and Matterson) only missed out because of injury, not because they were dropped. In fact Papali'i played a higher proportion of his games off the bench than Matterson did.

So did Opacic but you didn’t list him. If you were building a nucleus of a team who would you have out of Opacic and Penisini? If you choose Penisini as I assume you will then you should realise the number of games isn’t the metric you’re looking for.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

So did Opacic but you didn’t list him. If you were building a nucleus of a team who would you have out of Opacic and Penisini? If you choose Penisini as I assume you will then you should realise the number of games isn’t the metric you’re looking for.

Penisini is too young and inexperienced to be a team leader, same as Dylan Brown and Reed Mahoney. I didn't list Opacic because he's not part of the core of the squad. He only played 20 games because Jennings was suspended and Penisini wasn't ready. Five of those other eight blokes have all averaged 20+ games a year for us over multiple seasons. Matterson, Nrown and Blake have only been prevented from doing so by injury.

 

[84 Baby]

Stick to the process mate, look at how well that worked out for Philly.

Well it would have if Embiid didn’t throw Simmons under the bus. They’d have quietly traded him this season and got value in return

 

[yy_cheng]

Why does tariq remind me of beau bloody Scott... who was one of my favourite parra players

 

[Tigerm]

On overs

I'm not sure what overs would be for a potential superstar of the game, which you blokes let go, I also believe you guys are looking at a swap with Liddle for Stone, your club seems to be losing a lot of players this season?

 

[hindy111]

His position is middle defender. It's just a matter of finding what to do with him in attack.

Lock or edge

 

[hindy111]

They other thing that we chatted about briefly was that spirits are very high as are expectations for this season. They also said Penisi is a genuine superstar in waiting. Expectations are he will explode this season.

Yes he is a special player.

We need to keep room for young guys coming thru. We also shou,d keep an eye at the Bulldogs junior ranks for what hookers they may have in pipeline. Best place to search is at clubs where that position is taken for a long time and no pathway. Makes negotiating far easier.

 

[Eelementary]

Stick to the process mate, look at how well that worked out for Philly.

Never were truer words spoken!

 

[hindy111]

I really like Marata - he's a great player.

But I think the style of play he brings to the table is a little easier to replace than other forwards.

And admittedly, I am pinning my hopes on the club having a plan, because the alternative is for me to wallow in anger, or despair - buy I don't know that their plan actually is.

I just hope that it all becomes apparent soon, and we have some clarity.

Marata is solid and that's all imo. When he has started in the middle we aren't as good. He is a great bench player and a decent edge.

 

[emjaycee]

Just spoke to a friend of mine who is staff at Parra. Their comments to me were Reed was never staying. Never! It wasn’t about the money at all, he wanted to go.
They also said they are near certain Junior WILL stay.
Lastly and the first I’ve heard of it but we are closely looking at Tariq Sims. Seems odd to me but just reporting it. For 2022.
Those who know me know I have no agenda, just passing on what I heard. This person is in staff.

I have heard the same about Junior and Sims but totally the opposite regarding Rheed not wanting to stay.
In fact 48 hours before he was announced as joining the Dogs, I was told his preference was to stay at Parra.
My source on the Rheed issue is pretty reliable, unless Rheed was lying directly to my face.